Jose Mourinho said he was “not worried” about an injury suffered by Loic Remy during Chelsea’s 6-0 hammering of Maribor in the Champions League.
The France striker went off with what looked like a groin problem shortly after scoring the opening goal at Stamford Bridge.
He was replaced by Didier Drogba, whose penalty made it 2-0 – his first goal since his return to Chelsea.
“We are playing well, are confident, solid and have found a good balance.”
Jose Mourinho after Chelsea’s win
Drogba has been nursing an ankle problem and the 36-year-old had been deemed fit to play half an hour at most, but Remy’s injury meant he was called upon.
And with top scorer Diego Costa struggling with a hamstring injury and Remy expected to miss Sunday’s game against Manchester United, it leaves Mourinho potentially short of attacking options.
But the Blues boss said: “Remy’s is a muscular injury, I don’t know the dimensions and I’m not worried.
“When a player is injured, play another one – it’s not a problem. I don’t like to speak about injured players.
“I was not expecting Didier to play 75 minutes. Yesterday we talked about 30 minutes. Circumstances meant he had to come on and he was comfortable to play 75 minutes.
“In the end it was very important for Didier because the best thing for a player to improve his condition is to play.”
Chelsea’s resounding victory cemented their position at the top of Group G. They are two points clear of Schalke, who beat Sporting Lisbon.
“We won and are top of the group, so we’re happy,” Mourinho added.
“We are playing well, are confident, solid and have found a good balance. We now have the players to play the game we were preparing last year and couldn’t manage to do it in a perfect way.
“At 3-0 at half-time, on many occasions a team just stops and is happy with the points. But they carried on playing and trying to score.”
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This post was last modified on 22/10/2014